VISTA: City to hike fees or switch off streetlights

Ambulance will be removed from service to save money

Half of Vista's residential streetlights will be shut off in
March unless property owners are willing to pay higher fees.

The City Council unanimously approved a plan suggested by
Councilman Steve Gronke on Tuesday that requires 10 percent of the
city's property owners, or 2,500 people, to petition the city and
say they will pay $4 to $20 more in lighting fees per year,
depending upon the size of their property, or 1,825 streetlights
will be turned off.

Under the plan, streetlights along main thoroughfares, at
intersections or near traffic signals would not be turned off.
Shutting the lights off would save the city about $230,000 per
year.

The council also agreed to remove one of the city's four
ambulances from service in an effort to save $636,477 per year.

The budget cuts are necessary to close a $9 million deficit in
the city's general fund budget. City Manager Rita Geldert said the
city needs to cut $5 million in its budget by next year.

City residents already pay between $13 and $50 annually for the
lighting district, Assistant City Manager Patrick Johnson said.

Residents' fees for the district have been frozen at the same
rate since 1996, when California voters passed Proposition 218,
which requires taxpayer approval to increase special assessments on
property.

Council members said they would be willing to spend more than
$100,000 to fund community outreach meetings and a mail-in ballot
if they thought enough property owners would agree to a fee
hike.

Lights would go out on March 13, but property owners have until
June 30 to submit the petition to the city.

If the petition is turned in to the city before March 13, the
lights would stay on until the votes are tallied.

City Attorney Darold Pieper said 50 percent of the property
owners who return the mail-in ballot would have to approve the fee
increase for the lights to stay on.

The city tried to raise fees in the Shadowridge neighborhood and
at the city's business park in 2002, but residents handily defeated
the increase.

"Should we spend $125,000 on the outreach process and mail
ballots to property owners when in fact we did not see an
indication from (the previous attempt) that people were willing to
pay $4 to $20 a year more?" Geldert asked, adding that residents
have shown they are "willing to do with reduced services rather
than pay more taxes."

Gronke said shutting out the lights is a declaration to
residents about how destitute the city's budget woes are.

"We're telling the voters that we're at that point in this city
where services are going to be reduced," he said. "How much is it
worth to you to keep those services in place?"

The council also voted 3-2 to remove an ambulance from the
city's fire service. Councilman Frank Lopez and Councilwoman Judy
Ritter, who will be sworn in as mayor on Dec. 7, voted against the
measure.

"A majority of our expenditures are for public safety, and
there's no other place," Mayor Morris Vance said.

The proposal would reduce the number of firefighters on staff
daily from 27 to 25. Ambulances are housed at Fire Stations No. 1,
3, 4 and 6.

Fire Chief Gary Fisher said the ambulance proposal wouldn't
affect how long it takes for first responders to get to the scene
of an emergency but could affect how long it takes for all units to
arrive at a scene or how long it takes to transport a victim to the
hospital.

Fisher said removing an ambulance from service could also affect
the department's border drop program with neighboring cities and
will disqualify Vista from a federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and
Emergency Response grant. Losing the grant may mean Vista would
have to pay the $1.1 million grant back and it would be more than
1.5 years before any savings is realized.

The council agreed to eliminate the ambulance after several
residents, officials from the Vista Fire Protection District and
members of the Vista Firefighters Association urged them to hold
off on the vote.

"There's only so much we can do in those living rooms," said
firefighter Miles Sweeney. "We need those ambulances there,
period."

Keith Kaumeyer, vice president of the firefighters association,
said after the vote the group might try to petition the new council
members to reconsider the decision.